JOEY BARTON could be poised to make a comeback for Newcastle United against Swansea City on February 13.

The Scouser has been out with a foot injury since September and, although the one-time England international is due to start training again with his team-mates this week, he is not ready to make an immediate return to the first-team stage, according to Chris Hughton.

And that means that Barton will be in the stands again on Friday night when Cardiff City come to Toon, while next Tuesday’s trip to Pride Park to face Derby County will also come too soon.

But there is a chance he could ready to make his return when United travel to South Wales to face the Swans in what is certain to be a feisty atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium.

Hughton told the Chronicle: “Joey Barton is ready to return to training with the first team.

“He’s a lad that has not played any first-team football for five months.

“And we’re aware of that, which means he won’t be ready for the next two games at least.

“We’ll see where we are with him.

“But for Joey now it is just getting back into the swing of things in training.”

Hughton was today toasting a successful transfer window with SIX new signings through the door in January to bolster his squad.

The depth of Hughton’s roster has been well documented this season and, although he still has Steven Taylor and Jose Enrique on the treatment tables at the club’s Benton base, his squad can no longer be described as paper-thin.

Hughton hopes that Danny Simpson and Shola Ameobi will be fit for the visit of Cardiff on Friday night, but tonight he will return to the scene of United’s last league defeat.

Newcastle’s draw with Leicester at the weekend stretched their unbeaten run to 14 games and, having not tasted a loss since October 20 last year at Scunthorpe, Hughton will be back at Glanford Park for the Magpies’ reserve team clash with the Iron.

Hughton will assess fit-again Swedish goalkeeper Ole Soderberg, who has been out with a knee injury this season, while fringe players Kazenga LuaLua and Ryan Donaldson are also back in the second string.

The reserve team’s last competitive fixture came way back on December 8 when they lost at Grimsby.